Accreditation refers to a formal quality assurance process through which an external organization evaluates an institution, program, service provider, or organization against established standards. Accreditation is used across education, workforce training, healthcare, industry, and professional sectors to help determine whether quality, effectiveness, safety, governance, learning outcomes, or operational expectations are being met. Accreditation processes may involve peer review, standards evaluation, data analysis, site visits, outcome measurement, continuous improvement processes, industry or employer input, and regulatory alignment

In education and workforce systems, accreditation has traditionally focused on colleges, universities, and academic programs. According to the U.S. Department of Education, accreditation is the process of assessment meant to improve academic quality and institutional accountability by an established set of standards to ensure a basic level of quality. Accreditation covers both the initial and ongoing approval of an educational institution or program. Entire schools or institutions can be accredited (referred to as institutional accreditation), as can individual schools, programs, or departments (referred to as specialized or programmatic accreditation). Accreditation can be conducted on the national, state, or private organizational levels. The accrediting agency establishes an agreed-on set of standards, evaluates organizations or institutions, and then re-evaluates the provider on a set schedule—typically, every five or ten years.

Accreditation models increasingly extend to workforce education, nondegree programs, apprenticeships, online learning providers, industry certification programs, short-term training, and alternative learning pathways.

While accreditation is often carried out by nongovernmental accrediting organizations in the United States that may be reviewed or recognized by federal or state authorities, outside the U.S., quality assurance systems are often more centralized and may operate through ministries of education, professional licensing systems, government agencies, or international standards organizations.

Growing interest in skills-based hiring, digital credentials, workforce mobility, artificial intelligence, and alternative pathways is expanding how accreditation and quality assurance are understood across the broader learn-and-work ecosystem.

Programmatic accreditation is a type of accreditation that evaluates a specific educational, training, certification, or workforce preparation program rather than an entire institution or organization. The review focuses on whether a particular program meets established standards related to curriculum, instructional quality, technical competencies, learner support, industry expectations, safety, outcomes, or preparation for professional practice and employment.

Programmatic accreditation is commonly used in fields where specialized knowledge, technical skills, public trust, safety requirements, or professional licensure are important. Examples include healthcare, engineering, teacher education, information technology, skilled trades, public safety, aviation, manufacturing, and business. Unlike institutional accreditation, which reviews an entire college, organization, or provider, programmatic accreditation concentrates on the quality and effectiveness of an individual program, occupational pathway, or field of study.

Programmatic accreditation may:

• Support professional licensure eligibility
• Help employers and learners evaluate program quality
• Align learning with workforce or industry standards
• Improve credential recognition and transferability
• Strengthen accountability and continuous improvement
• Support regulatory or compliance requirements
• Increase confidence in workforce readiness and competencies

Historically, programmatic accreditation was most commonly associated with degree programs and traditional higher education disciplines. However, newer models increasingly apply programmatic accreditation principles to nondegree workforce education, short-term training programs, apprenticeships, industry certification pathways, skills-based learning programs, online and hybrid training providers, workforce bootcamps, and alternative credential providers

Outside the U.S., programmatic accreditation and quality assurance systems vary significantly by country and profession. Some nations rely primarily on government ministries or national licensing systems, while others use professional associations, independent accrediting organizations, or international standards bodies. In globally mobile professions such as healthcare, engineering, aviation, and information technology, programmatic accreditation may support international recognition of qualifications and workforce mobility.

Emerging developments in digital credentials, AI-assisted review systems, competency-based education, and workforce-focused quality assurance are continuing to expand how programmatic accreditation operates across the broader learn-and-work ecosystem.

Type of award conferred by a college, university, or other postsecondary education institution indicating the satisfactory completion of a non-degree program of study. Typically, the course requirements for earning a certificate are less than those for earning a degree. Most certificates require no more than one year of full-time academic effort. A certificate may be for-credit (academic certificate) or non-credit (continuing education certificate). They are not time limited and do not need to be renewed.

Course articulation is the process of comparing the content of courses that are transferred between postsecondary institutions; i.e., . In course articulation, one institution matches its courses or requirements to coursework completed at another institution. Course articulation is distinct from the process of acceptance by one institution of earned credit from another institution, as applicable towards its degree requirements in transferring credit.

Refers to a policy implemented by the U.S. government in 2012 under the Obama administration. DACA provides temporary relief from deportation and enables work authorization to certain undocumented individuals who were brought to the United States as children (often referred to as “Dreamers”).  To be eligible for DACA, applicants must meet various criteria, including having arrived in the U.S. before turning 16 years of age, continuously residing in the U.S. since June 15, 2007, and meeting educational or military service requirements. DACA recipients are granted renewable 2-year periods of deferred action that allows them to remain in the U.S. legally and obtain work permits, although they are not provided a path to citizenship.

A degree is a title given by an institution (usually a college or university) that has been granted the authority by a state, recognized Native American tribe, or the federal government to confer such degrees. Generally, degrees are provided for accomplishment in academic, vocationally related, or religious studies, and the degree requirements differ within each of these three realms but are presumed to be comparable in accomplishment. A degree is granted by an institution to individuals who are presumed or who have been attested to have satisfactorily completed a course of study from which the individual can demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and ability commensurate with the degree requirements within the specific field of study. Degrees vary in the level of knowledge and skills that holders of the degree are presumed to have.

Refers to the practice of employers using degree requirements to screen out otherwise qualified candidates in pursuit of hiring efficiencies.

Degree and diploma mills refer to institutions that offer educational credentials (also known as qualifications) which are not accredited and are not based on common standards of academic assessment. Though the terms are often used synonymously, there are differences between the terms.

Degree mills typically issue diplomas from unaccredited institutions which may be legal in some states but are generally illegitimate. Degree mills may claim to be accredited but they are accredited by fake or phony accreditation agencies.

Diploma mills issue counterfeit diplomas using the names of real colleges or universities. The term is also used to describe a legitimate educational institution that has low academic admission standards and a low job placement rate, such as some for-profit schools.

A third-party organization, GetEducated.com, tracks and maintains a free list of online colleges which do not have proper distance learning accreditation, or which have consumer fraud or scam warnings lodged against it. This service is available for consumer information and protection.

See: Fraudulent Credentials | Learn & Work Ecosystem Library (learnworkecosystemlibrary.com)

A gateway course is the first credit-bearing college-level course in a program of study. These courses commonly refer to the requirements of a degree program and may be called introductory courses or prerequisites. Each student majoring in a given discipline generally passes through gateway courses. Examples include introductory courses or prerequisite courses required to complete before moving forward in majors like Business, Chemistry, and Psychology. Where colleges have particular mathematics and/or foreign language requirements for graduation, gateway courses may also include Algebra, English Composition, or Spanish I or other foreign languages.

Research has found that underrepresented college students are disproportionately held back by gateway courses, and this leads to lower graduation rates.

Also referred to as automatic admission or assured admission, this term refers to a policy in place at many state public institutions of higher education which provides a direct path into college for state residents who meet specific criteria.  Criteria can include having earned a high school diploma or GED, satisfying a set grade point average threshold or other academic achievement metric, and additional requirements unique to each state and institution.  These direct admission policies are intended to boost enrollment while encouraging residents to remain in-state for their continued education.  Students are still expected to submit applications and complete required documentation for the institution they wish to attend. 

The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines an HBCU as: “…any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of Black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation.” HBCUs offer all students, regardless of race, an opportunity to develop their skills and talents. There are currently 107 HBCUs serving more than 200,00 students in 19 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. HBCUs can be either public or private colleges. While HBCUs historically only served Black students, nearly a quarter of students enrolled in HBCUs as of 2019 were non-Black.

Describes essential characteristics required for a given job, to include the level of education and training required; field of education and training required; and other requirements in terms of knowledge, skills, competence, occupational interests and work values.

See: Glossary – Skills Profiling/Skills Profile; Topic: Skills Profiling/Skills Profile 

Open universities are higher education institutions that offer degrees with low or no entry requirements. They are designed to offer equal opportunities to develop individuals’ abilities, improve their level of education, and retrain for a new career.  They are particularly useful for:

• Former students who have graduated from prior studies with low grades but seeking to continue their higher education.
• Learners who do not have a credential from secondary school.
• Learners unable to travel to a physical location to study. Open universities typically offer distance learning studies—courses taught fully online or with materials sent to the learner’s preferred location.
• Disabled learners seeking educational services.

The first European university to give students the option of open and online education was the Open University UK created in 1970. Many countries have since embraced this trend. Examples of open universities from which millions of students have graduated include:

• The Open University UK 
• Open University of the Netherlands
• Open University of Cyprus
• Hellenic Open University

Online learning universities are higher education institutions that have more admission requirements than open universities but are still flexible about learners’ background. Examples of online learning universities that offer degree diplomas:

• Royal Roads University
• Nottingham Trent University Online
• Walden University
• Kettering University
• The University of Law

Both open and online learning universities offer online degrees, but they have different degrees of openness to learners. Open universities generally accept any student, with no age limits and no prior education requirements. At some open universities, students cannot complete a degree but the credits they earn can be transferred towards an academic degree. Online learning universities have entry requirements similar to those of traditional universities and they guarantee that learners will earn an academic degree if they fulfil the course requirements.

The detailed specifications in a credential management system shows how a technical system meets the needs of users and stakeholders. These typically describe how the system should work, what features and functions it should provide, and how it should integrate with other systems and tools.

ParentPLUS loans are offered by the federal government to make it more accessible and affordable for eligible parents to seek a college-level education.  To receive a loan, a parent borrower must (1) have a child who has filled out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid(FAFSA^®; (2) be the biological or adoptive parent (or in some cases, the stepparent) of a dependent undergraduate student enrolled at least half-time at an eligible school; (3) not have an adverse credit history; (4) meet general eligibility requirements for federal student aid. Grandparents (unless they have legally adopted the dependent student) and legal guardians are not eligible to receive parent PLUS loans, even if they have had primary responsibility for raising the student.

See Topic: ParentPLUS Loans

Demonstrates relevance to the current needs and trends of the industry or field, reflecting the knowledge and skills that are in demand, aligning with the evolving requirements of employers and stakeholders. Regular updates and revisions to the credential’s content and curriculum help ensure currency and maintain trust over time.

Reverse transfer is the process by which a student is awarded an associate degree after transferring and completing degree requirements at a four-year institution. Through reverse transfer, students can combine the credits they earn at their four-year school with those they had previously earned at community college and retroactively be awarded an associate degree.

Refers to the confidence and reliability attributed to a credential by various stakeholders, including employers, educational institutions, professional organizations, and individuals themselves. It involves the belief that the credential accurately represents an individual’s qualifications, knowledge, and skills; and that it has been earned through a legitimate and credible process. Many elements help ensure trust in credentials: (1) accreditation, (2) recognition, (3) transparency, (4) accountability, (5) rigorous assessment, (6) relevance, (7) ethical standards, and (8) proven track record.

A machine-readable registry of issuers of credentials that meet a specific set of quality, accreditation, or licensing criteria.